Ark Royal-Class
Ark Royal-Class Through-Deck Cruisers are a variant of the Federation-Class vessels designed for a more military purpose. As of 2406 only the pathfinder U.S.S. Ark Royal is in service, though a second space-frame has been set aside pending the shakedown cruise. Design History Proposal In late 2404 it became apparent to Starfleet Command that situations were changing in the Alpha Quadrant - the relationship with the Gorn Confederacy deteriorated to the point that military intervention in the form of Operation Emerald was required, diplomacy with the Klingon Empire remained frosty and the Romulans seemed poised on infighting. TacFleet felt that a heightened state of readiness was required and re-evaluated the fleet's capabilities. In the event of capital ship combat the Federation was confident that it could move enough ships from TacFleet and the Rapid Deployment Force but one area it was was notably lacking in was carriers. Only one modern example of this category of craft was currently in service - the U.S.S. Jupiter, a pathfinder for a new class of ship, with all others being thirty year old Courageous-class shuttlecarriers. Constructing new Jupiter-class ships would take years and upgrading either the Courageous-class or the century-old mothballed Ariel-class craft was not going to be much faster. Instead, a proposal came from the Advanced Starship Design Bureau to repurpose existing large spaceframes of cruisers and battleships to assemble a Through-Deck Cruiser which could act as a stop-gap solution until the U.S.S. Jupiter could finish its shakedown cruise and further examples could be completed. There were four spaceframes of Federation-Class in partial stages of completion and they seemed the best match, with substantial space for quarters and laboratories that could be converted into further hangars and machine shops. This plan proved unpopular with the "Dove" faction in the Federation Council who saw the "Hawks" as seeking to turn the biggest exploration craft project in decades into yet another TacFleet asset. It became apparent that the Vulcans would not permit the two spaceframes at the 40 Eridani A yars to be used for this project - however, two other frame were currently at Utopia Planitia and these were transferred over to the Through-Deck Cruiser Project. Construction & Changes Several members of the ASDB who worked on the original Federation-class project transferred over to this one, as well as Engineering staff from both the U.S.S. Federation and U.S.S. Enterprise-F to offer their input. The first hull, originally scheduled to be christened the U.S.S. Odyssey was instead allocated the new title of U.S.S. Ark Royal and conversion work began. In order to produce as quick and simple a variant as possible, it was not viable to modify many major systems. The ship's warp core was already operational so all power demands would need to remain balanced - and even without, adding new weapon systems would require substantive new plasma conduit assemblies. Instead it was decided the craft would be mostly left at it's current tactical capabilities and always allocated an Escort bodyguard or two to ensure protection from larger battlecruisers or dedicated carrier craft. The main shuttlebay on deck 7, already taking up almost half the deck and bleeding into decks 6 and 8, was greatly expanded: now it actually ran from fore to aft and had not just one main hangar door but two at either end. This creates the "through-deck" which means that craft can be launching to fore at the same time as they are returning through the aft, or in emergencies can be launched through both doors for faster despatch. The shuttlebays in the stardrive were also expanded, with an expanded system of lifts and feeds allowing large numbers of craft to be held in storage and brought down to the bays for quick launch. A consequence of the changes to the ship's structure was the changing of the mass at the foremost point of the ship which jeapordised its warp geometry. Although adjustments were made to try and compensate for this in the end it was apparent the vessel would have to make do with a slower maximum warp speed and duration. On the bright side, no longer requiring the same power demand for high warp speeds meant that a small amount of energy could be found for a slightly uprated shield system to make up for the lack of offensive weaponry. The pathfinder craft was launched at the start of 2406 for a shakedown cruise around the Sol Sector. Appearance Like the Federation-class, the Ark-Royal class is large with a keel 842m long and seventy nine decks: making it about two hundred metres longer and twenty-five decks taller than Picard’s Galaxy-Class Enterprise. As with most vessels of Starfleet design it is based around a saucer-shaped primary hull and a detachable secondary hull which houses the ship's primary engines on nacelles. Unlike most vessels it possesses very large shuttle-bay doors on either side of the saucer section Capabilities Ark Royal-class craft are designed to operate for years at a time away from Starfleet bases and thusly are highly independent craft featuring cutting-edge technology, including some lessons from the substantially more sleek Broadsword-class vessels which were up until recently the largest vessels in the fleet. The Warp Drive has a sustainable speed of Warp 9 with special warp geometry considerations minimising damage to subspace & the ship caused by high speeds. The crew of approximately 1600 are protected by a specially reinforced FSS-3u shield system, twelve phaser arrays and an arsenal of photon & quantum torpedoes. The most distinctive feature of the vessel is that the saucer section possesses its own emergency warp drive. Hidden behind detachable panels and only available when the saucer and engineering hull are separated, the Ark Royal-class saucer section has a sustainable speed of Warp 6 and a theoretical maximum speed of Warp 6.5, meaning that even with the destruction or loss of the main warp core the crew can make a slow return back into Federation space. These speeds are lower than those of the Federation-class due to the impact the modifications to the design have had on the ship's warp geometry. Its primary function of course is to transport small craft such as shuttlecraft and fighters. It carries a large complement of Peregrine-class fighters, Ajax-class pilot escorts and Icarus-class pilot escorts as well as far more shuttlecraft, shuttlepods and runabouts than a standard cruiser. The ship is thusly well equipped to take part in a variety of actions including ship combat, boarding actions and planetary landings. Ships In Service Craft of the Ark Royal-Class are to be named after notable carrier ships from Starfleet and the historical fleets of Federation members. * U.S.S. Ark Royal, NX-86791 (Pathfinder) Ships Under Construction * U.S.S. Yamato, NCC-71807-A, (Spaceframe Only At Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, Mars - Expected In Service Date 2409) Category:Starfleet Category:Starfleet Ship Classes Category:Ship Classes